Essentials Part 2

Major CAGED Chords

The CAGED system is a set of open chord shapes that can be moved up and down the neck. The shapes fit together in the order C, A, G, E and D, hence, CAGED. We can use the CAGED system to play any chord in a number of different positions on the neck. If we're to take the D major shape and move it up two frets, you would still be playing the same shape but the chord would now be E major! This is the same principle as the barre chords we learnt already - the E and A shapes - except the C, D and G shapes are a bit more fiddly. Watch the video and let the ideas sink in, then move on to the next lesson, where we will start analysing the shapes.

CAGED Chord Shapes

Let's take a look at all the CAGED chord shapes in the key of G major. Take a look at the fretboard diagrams for the "official" shapes as you might see written in books.

C, G, D CAGED

Even though the 5 shapes work well in theory, they can be very hard to play for a lot of people. Instead, we'll play the shapes in the following way, as shown in the fretboard diagrams.

CAGED Exercise

To practise these CAGED chords we'll perform a simple exercise where we move the five shapes across the neck with a simple G major chord. The shapes can be found in the fretboard diagrams.

"Place Your Hand In My Hand" Introduction

Let get started by watching the following video.

The Chords

We will start by learning the chord shapes used and the chord chart. The chord shapes can be found in the fretboard diagrams.

The Chord Chart

The song structure is reasonably straightforward, as shown in the chord chart below.

Rhythm

This is the trickiest rhythm pattern we have covered so far, so please take your time with it! Play through it slowly at first. Here is the pattern: